Mediaboss Marketing

SAN FRANCISCO, March 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media marketing, online surveys, event marketing and direct mail marketing, today released the first in a series of findings that examine email and social media marketing user data among small and mid-sized businesses.

VerticalResponse found companies that use its email marketing service and also engage in social media marketing for their business (defined by activity on Roost by VerticalResponse, the company's social media marketing platform) experience a 28 percent higher open rate on their email marketing campaigns versus those that don't use Roost by VerticalResponse.

"This is really compelling evidence showing those who combine email marketing and social media obtain greater results from their campaigns, especially among small and mid-sized businesses that represent the majority ofour customer base," said Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO. "The numbers clearly show that those who broadcast content across multiple online touch points are getting a lot more engagement than those who don't."

What types of businesses do the best in leveraging email marketing and social media? The data analysis uncovered the following:

Roost by VerticalResponse enables small businesses to easily and quickly create, schedule, manage and measure their social media marketing campaigns from one convenient dashboard. Earlier this month, the company released a free iOS mobile app, giving customers access to the platform's most popular features no matter where they are.

Methodology: VerticalResponse analyzed a sample set of 3,116 active customers who use both the company's email marketing service and Roost by VerticalResponse. Their open rates were compared to those had by customers who only use VerticalResponse email marketing.

ABOUT VERTICALRESPONSEVerticalResponse Inc. provides a full suite of self-service marketing solutions for small businesses including email marketing, social media marketing, event marketing, direct mail marketing and online surveys. Its mission is to empower small businesses and non-profit organizations to easily and affordably create, manage and analyze their own marketing campaigns. Users can benefit from a wide variety of features including more than 700 free email marketing templates; tools to create, schedule and publish content over social media networks; and robust reporting so that they can understand overall marketing success. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. For more information visit http://www.verticalresponse.com, and connect on Twitter at @VR4SmallBiz and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/verticalresponse. Learn more about Roost's social media marketing tools for small business here and by following @Roost.

Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Janine Popick https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=92010

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Businesses Who Use Email Marketing and Social Media Achieve 28% Higher Email Open Rates, According to VerticalResponse ...

You don't have to look very far to notice that there are a lot of car companies trying to get in the social game -- you can see plenty examples in this year's Super Bowl ads.

[More from Mashable: 8 Things That Could Make iPad 3 More Expensive Than iPad 2]

It wasn't always this way for Ford. In 2009, they recruited Scott Monty to be their head of social media. Since then, he's come up with innovative strategies to blend social into all of Ford's marketing campaigns.

"Social media is not a standalone," Monty said. "It's not a rubber stamp you put on after having done everything else. It's absolutely important to be integrated into the thinking early on as you're putting your strategies, programs and tactics together."

[More from Mashable: Facebook Marketing: Why News Feed Still Trumps Timeline Pages]

In this episode of Behind the Brand, Monty speaks to Brian Elliot about the company's biggest success stories in bringing all their marketing elements together. When Ford began planning how to unveil the 2011 Ford Explorer, they decided they wanted to centralize the announcement around the brand's Facebook Page.

"Not only did we want to reinvent the vehicle, we wanted to reinvent the way we told the story," Monty said.

Watch the whole interview with Scott Monty above to learn about the innovations behind Ford's social media strategy, and how he's helped raise the brand's engagement level, then tell us what you think in the comments.

Behind the Brand is hosted by Bryan Elliott. Stay tuned to Mashable every Wednesday for new episodes.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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How Ford Kicked Its Social Marketing Strategy Into Overdrive [VIDEO]

Reggie Bradford is the founder and CEO of Vitrue, the leading provider of social marketing software, offering SaaS solutions to help brands and agencies harness the marketing-communications potential of social media on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social communities. Follow Reggie on Twitter @ReggieBradford and Vitrue @Vitrue.

Facebook unveiled its much-anticipated new Timeline Pages Wednesday, giving marketers a glimpse of what lies ahead as the feature rolls out over the next few months.

[More from Mashable: Timeline for Brands: How to Prepare for Your Companys New Facebook Page]

Weve already experienced what Timeline means for consumers: a visual, multimedia chronological history of you. And it will be similar for brands: a dynamic new destination that will allow companies to present a visual treasure trove of stories, events and fan interactions.

[More from Mashable: Facebook Timeline Brand Pages Are Here [PICS]]

The Timeline Page feature does represent a significant improvement over the previous Page format. Not to mention, it creates a new opportunity for potential consumers to spend more time exploring brand Pages on Facebook.

But amidst the buzz of Facebook's new Pages, we should not lose focus on something that hasnt changed: the power and importance of the News Feed.

Providing relevant, interactive and valuable content via the News Feed is the number-one priority for consumer engagement. And with Facebooks recent EdgeRank changes, creating this type of content is more critical than ever in order to gain exposure on News Feeds.

Why is the News Feed where engagement happens? Because thats where consumers spend most of their time. Dont believe me? Consider your own Facebook behavior. Need some real-data proof? Our research shows that the News Feed is 110-times more engaging than other features.

However, the importance of News Feed shouldn't downplay the importance of new Facebook Pages. The Timeline Page format is a fantastic new feature for brands, a showcase for conveying information that should, if done well, get consumers more invested in your story, your history, your products and your success.

Read more:
Facebook Marketing: Why News Feed Still Trumps Timeline Pages

NEW YORK, Feb. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Hearsay Social, provider of the leading enterprise social marketing platform, today announced Hearsay Social for Facebook Pages Brand Timeline, which delivers full integration and support for the new Facebook Page redesign launched today at fMC, the Facebook Marketing Conference in New York. All Hearsay Social customers can now tell their brand story with cover photos, pinning and starring of promotional content to their timeline, and corporate/local Facebook Page campaigns, all while ensuring brand protection and regulatory compliance.

Integrated into the Hearsay Social platform, Hearsay Social Campaign & Page Management now includes Hearsay Social for Facebook Pages Brand Timeline, providing a complete solution for marketers to execute and manage social campaigns. With this release, marketers can distribute posts, cover photos, apps, ads, and integrated campaigns to corporate pages, regional pages, and individual employee profiles and social pages. Marketers can easily manage thousands of apps and posts per day and offer engaging content to employees, stores, or branches.

"We are pleased to announce Hearsay Social for Facebook Pages Brand Timeline. Businesses have realized the power of social media, and the combination of Facebook Pages and Hearsay Social empowers brands everywhere," said Hearsay Social CEO Clara Shih. "Friends will be able to share experiences and feelings about brands with each other on the new pages. With Hearsay Social, companies will be able to manage social interactions with their customers at scale, even if there are thousands of Facebook pages associated with their brand."

"And Hearsay Social is still the only vendor offering complete compliance and full marketing capabilities for all the major networks, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google+."

Hearsay Social has a huge content library that makes it easy for customers to engage on social media effectively. Customers can, for instance, simply use a template to generate a social campaign or they can click on a marketing campaign and distribute it to users in the field, who then add content, personalize it, and post it on their own Facebook Pages.

Social marketers who want to do a deeper dive on the new Facebook Pages redesign are invited to download The New Facebook Pages Brand Timeline: Everything You Need to Know, a free guide that elaborates on the five rules of cover photos, tips for humanizing your brand timeline, and other best practices for marketing on the world's largest social network.

About the Hearsay Social Platform

The Hearsay Social platform delivers enterprise-class scale, reliability, security, and complete compliance for enterprises on social media. Today, tens of thousands of advisors, agents, local representatives, and franchisees rely on the Hearsay Social platform to engage in compliant social conversations with over five million customers. The Hearsay Social platform is the only comprehensive platform that both protects and empowers on every social network and at every level of the organization, from firm to business unit to individual employee.

About Hearsay Social

Read more here:
Hearsay Social for Facebook® Pages Brand Timeline Unveiled

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f6621b/social_media_marke) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Social Media Marketing for Digital Photographers" to their offering.

Teaching Photographers How to Use Social Media to Grow Their Businesses

With the rapid rise of both digital photography and social media, amateur photographers can now turn what was once a hobby into a thriving business. Social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Flickr offer loads of exciting marketing opportunities. This practical guide from a well-respected professional photographer shows you how to take advantage of social media to grow a profitable photography business. If you've been wondering which social media sites to use, how to use them, how often to use them, and more, this book is for you.

In addition to the powerful strategies, interviews were conducted with thought leaders in the photo industry -- Kenny Kim, Zach and Jody Gray, Jerry Ghionis, Becker, Jasmine Star, Catherine Hall, and Grace Ormonde -- to provide you with all-star tips and tricks.

Whether you're just starting a professional photography business or are a seasoned pro looking for good advice on using social media to promote yourself, Social Media Marketing for Digital Photographers is the book you need.

Key Topics Covered:

Author:

Lawrence Chan is a wildly popular wedding and portrait photographer, blogger, and marketing strategist. He also provides marketing and business management advice to photographers through his website.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f6621b/social_media_marke

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Research and Markets: Social Media Marketing for Digital Photographers